Super Soon-to-be-Prince Mario
by Stuffulkins
Summary: Several years after the original trip, it's the boys' turn to bring Bowser to justice on Vibe Island! In addition to the unfamiliar turf, and a vast array of monsters and mercenaries sent after them to contend with, the Koopa King is quick to make use of an island curse in an attempt to defeat Mario, Luigi, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong.
1. Trying to Remain Calm

It was an intense day in the Mushroom Kingdom; Bowser had kidnapped Peach again. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong had all given chase to him.

"Fools, you won't be able to stop me this time!" Bowser snarled from his Koopa Clown Car.

Mario came back at him with a determined "You always lose; what makes you think this time will be any different?"

Bowser held up a balloon filled with black fluid; "THIS! Courtesy of Vibe Island!" He launched it at the heroes. Before it could hit anyone, without a second thought, Yoshi grabbed it with his tongue and ate it. He flinched and spat out the plastic, but he was still able to catch up with the others before inexplicably tripping. Bowser grabbed a pink one and hurled it at Wario, but it hit Donkey Kong instead. The force of the impact splattered the paint all over him and he fell back. The same went for Toad, but this time, the balloon thrown at him contained green-colored liquid.

Mario stopped at that moment; the heels of his boots screeched against the path. He attempted to calm a crying Toad down when suddenly, he twitched then just started feeling better despite still being covered in green paint. Donkey Kong experienced the same, except he asked if they were ok.

"Yeah, we're fine." Mario said with a sigh of relief.

"Phew! That was so close you guys. I thought we were in serious danger; I hope Luigi and Wario are okay."

"Um, DK, since when are you become _this_ concerned about our well-being?"

"I don't know, but now I wanna hug you for some reason!" He then did the best he could to wrap all three of his friends in his arms, pleasing them while creeping them out.

After DK let go, Mario thought about what had happened some more. "Bowser said he got them from Vibe Island-that must be where he's taking Peach! Toad, how are you feeling?"

Toad was about to speak but was interrupted by an obnoxiously rude voice; "Oh sure, like you couldn't make that connection. I'll have no problem defeating you in my quest to take over the world! Bwahhahahahaha!" The voice sounded like it came from Yoshi, but something so mean couldn't have possibly come from him. He tried to speak, but his now black tongue was not moving. Then, suddenly, it rose up on its own, opened a pair of eyes and insulted Donkey Kong's pink fur. Everyone was grossed out by it. Yoshi slammed his mouth shut with his hands, but the tongue just kept wanting to control him.

The group decided to head forward quickly; who among them knew what kinds of trouble Luigi and Wario were going to get themselves into. They continued following Peach's screams until she was too far away, then another road hazard: the ocean. Fortunately for them, Toad pointed out a small port that the trees had blocked prior.

They went up to the manager. "Hey guys, what can I do for you and what happened to you guys—You need something for Princess Peach?" he guessed.

"We'll explain that later; this is an emergency! Say, have you seen Luigi and Wario anywhere?" Mario gasped.

"Oh, funny thing, they just left on the S.S. Briskley to chase after Bowser; it's the fastest one we've got, and Wario was in such a rush, he didn't even pay."

Mario spoke with a frenzied tone in his voice while giving the captain a bag of Coins: "Heroes' discounts to a' Vibe Island please!"

"Okay, there's one over there you can use." Mario, Toad, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong all got on board and sailed towards the island.

Meanwhile, out in the middle of the ocean, the S.S. Briskley caught up to Bowser. Luigi climbed up to the top of the boat and after making sure he had solid enough footing, he jumped towards Bowser's Clown Car, sure he was going to reach, but Bowser moved it to the side just as Luigi almost had the edge in his grasp. The captain slammed the brake, so Wario had more time to align himself to save Luigi from the fall, but they couldn't catch up to Bowser anymore.

"You dummy! I totally could've caught him without that!" Wario boasted, "Now we're even MORE behind!"

"I'm just doing my job!" the Toad Captain Knot T. cried shivering, "You still haven't even paid me!"

"Fine; it's not like we have anything better to do." Wario gave Knot. T two handfuls of Coins from his pockets.

When they finally reached Vibe Island, they were treated to a beautiful, open valley. Bowser was hovering over a large mountain just to see what they would do. Wario stuck his tongue out at Bowser and declared to his partner, "C'mon, Luigi! We're a' going mountain climbing!" Wario tried to find a place where he could gain his footing, but he never could.

Bowser laughed at and taunted them, then disappeared into the valleys. Wario did not take that well. "I'm still a' gonna get you Bowser," he grunted as he still tried to advance upwards.

Shortly after that, Wario and Luigi heard a horn blare and could see another ship: it was the others! "Luigi shouted with excitement, "Hey, I think that's..."

Wario interrupted, "Bah, I may not be _the best_ hiker, but I believe **I** can still reach Bowser myself! You comin' with me or not?"

"Well..." Luigi spoke nervously while twiddling his thumbs.

"Shotgun!" Wario ran off into the plains before he even had time to think. Luigi stood there. "What just…Come back!" He then yelled out to the ship. When no reply came, he sat down on a rock, waiting for one to come. A short time later, he was startled by loud, merry singing right next to him to the point of falling back.

When he got back up, he looked at the rock to see where the sound came from. There were two floating, living, breathing, heart-shaped beings; one sad and blue, one smiling and yellow. The yellow heart squealed in excitement. Luigi rubbed his eyes and asked them who they were in astonishment.

"We are Vibes, living embodiments of emotion. I'm Gloom and that's Joy," The blue heart said. Luigi courteously got down his knees to get at their level.

Joy spoke in her usual excited manner, "We sensed your feelings and ventured out of a hidden cave.

"What are the others like and where are they?"

Gloom sighed, "That big, bad, giant Koopa returned and has our friend Peach and lots of the other Vibes hostage. He performed cruel experiments on them, creating weapons against anyone who opposes him that, regardless of emotion drives them mad and likely to their demise. Will you help us mystery man?"

"Of course."

Mario's voice echoed across the sea. Luigi raced to the coast with Gloom and Joy following him. He waved out to them."Guys!"

When Mario and the others landed on shore, they celebrated. "LUIGI, YOU'RE SAFE," DK squealed.

Luigi flinched away from him. "Ah, I don't wanna be covered in paint, especially not pink!"

"Oh relax; it won't stick," he said bearhugging Luigi, and lifting him.

"Thanks, Donkey Kong; I'd be more than happy to help, but please a' stop crushing my spine."

"Okay," he said letting go.

"Who are those guys?" Mario asked referring to the hearts. At that moment, a red one and a green one appeared before them.

Joy cheered for Mario, "It's you! The one who Peach likes!"

All four hearts began to orbit around Mario. "What's a' going on?"

"We are bestowing you with special powers-ones of wind, water, fire, and healing."

Luigi introduced the Vibes to his friends; "Guys, this is Gloom, Joy, and um..."

"Calm," the green Vibe introduced, "and the red one is Rage."

Mario didn't sound pleased. "Am I a' gonna have to cry every time I wanna splash some water around?"

"Not at all, silly," Joy beamed.

Mario gave a huge sigh of relief.

Gloom noticed DK and Toad's unusual appearance. "Great criminy. His plan already in place."

Everyone gave a collective "Huh?"

"From what I know, when soaked with one of those, you only feel one emotion, leading to your downfall. The Toad is calm, and the gorilla is afflicted with Love."

"What's so bad about that?" Toad asked, "I mean, I feel brave and I'm still kind." Everyone gave him a blank stare.

Mario broke the silence saying, "You might have a point; also, Yoshi's tongue is black-that's not normal. It was really mean to us, so we covered his mouth with an old flag from the port."

"Black?! That's the worst one of all-it turns the covered organism evil."

"EVIL?!" everyone screamed.

"Yes."

"Are there any ways to a' diffuse it?" a concerned Mario appealed.

Calm said to them, "Either with the Vibe Scepter or one of the secret ways."

Tell us, please!"

"Can't. An ancient Vibe pact states that it is forbidden we discuss them with other Vibes in order to keep emotional balance," Rage stated.

"Then we're just gonna have to find them ourselves."

"Speaking of finding things and people, where's Wario?" Donkey Kong asked.

Luigi pointed in the direction Wario had left in; "He went a' that way towards Bowser...without me."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" The group rushed along the path, hoping to catch up to their greedy friend.


	2. Joy to the Two Worlds?

The group breezed their way through Ladida Plains, helped that the much more by the grown beanstalks and enemies that Wario had already beaten for them, including the boss; however, he also took all of the coins and "weird shiny blue gems" that the vibes referenced to regularly for himself, leaving Mario and the others almost no treasure to find. However, in the midst of Hoo's Wood, Mario found another beanstalk and felt like climbing it to see what was up in the sky. Much to his surprise, he found a huge deposit of Coins and blue gems that the vibes really liked.

Upon hearing the news, his companions followed him up, gasping in excitement; then, a terrible thought entered Donkey Kong's mind: "What if something had happened to Wario." He expressed his concern to the others; they all seemed to agree.

"He had no problem getting to all the other Coin Heavens," Mario said, "You don't think that Bowser knew that you guys were coming and set something up, do you Luigi?"

"I wouldn't imagine that he didn't have some trick in place."

"We have to do something fast!" a panicked Donkey Kong blurted before Luigi could form another thought. The crew climbed down and proceeded on with their quest.

At the edge of the forest, they stopped to take a breather when suddenly, a giant blue owl with red eyebrows swooped down near them. "WHOOOOO DARES CROSS MY PATH?" The group paused for a moment to take in what had just happened.

After a few minutes, Luigi stepped forward and proclaimed that they were heroes who had come to save Vibe Island from a horrible fate. "There is a giant monster who has come to exhaust Vibe Island of its resources, so he can have control over our fair kingdom!"

The owl cried. "Is that truuuuuue?" he said.

Luigi became more expressive than before and continued; "Yes, and we are the only ones who can stop him, in time at least, so please, let us live so we can reach and stop that horrible Bowser."

The owl continued to bawl. "That's sooooooo sad, I won't dooooooo anything toooooooo stop youuuuuu guys. Good luck!" He flew away blubbering.

An astonished Toad asked him, "Luigi, was that..."

Luigi hastily covered Toad's mouth and angrily murmured to everyone. "Shush. Owls have some of the best hearing in the Animal Kingdom, we'll be exposed."

"So, we can't talk about this for, what, miles away?"

"Yes." They sneaked on out.

Donkey Kong couldn't help but compliment the Green Wonder once more; "Luigi, that was so amazing! When are you gonna do something cool like that again?"

"Time will tell, DK, time will tell."

Mario glanced at the map and gave it to DK. Toad looked too and said out loud without any care in the world: "Oh, it says it's Shriek Mansion—Haunted."

Luigi stopped dead in his tracks and began to shudder. "Haunt-t-t-t-t-ed?"

Mario moved over patting Luigi. "Everything's a' gonna be alright." Mario gestured a forward movement and reluctantly advanced with a grimace toward Toad.


	3. Dawn Breaks through the Gloom

The guys and the Vibes made their way to Shriek Mansion. Mario, Toad, and Yoshi went in first, then signaled to Luigi and Donkey Kong that things were safe. After burning some Dry Bones away, they heard ghostly laughing and loud music upstairs. Mario used the powers of Joy to listen in on it from a crack in the ceiling.

"Bowser's gonna be so pleased!"

"But we only have one-he's gonna be **so** mad and..."

Mario noticed that Joy was starting to get fatigued. He pleaded that she hold out a little while longer, so he could hear more of what the Boos had to say.

"We captured that pig who looks like Mario, but even uglier," he said in a tone almost if he knew the man himself was spying on him, "Of course he'll like us."

"I guess."

Mario was too stunned to get that he was falling. Luckily, he always had his friends there for him.

"They captured Wario! Guess we're a' gonna have to take a detour to that dungeon."

Everyone else gave a sigh. They went all the way downstairs and found Wario, growling and not looking at them. Mario called out his name to make his presence known. Wario turned around and gave them a mean look emblematic of his impatience. "Guys! You found me! Now hurry up and get me out of here!"

"You're Wario alright," Mario said after freeing him from the cell. Donkey Kong jumped for joy. He was so excited, he could hardly contain himself. He ran to the cell and gave Wario an even bigger hug. Now they could search for the exit.

Leaving the dungeon, Wario aggressively and intentionally stepped on Luigi's foot. "Ow! What was that for?" Luigi cried out.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," Wario said in his scariest voice possible. Mario later scolded him for the action.

They snuck through the suspiciously empty mansion, at least, empty of Boos, who were all celebrating. In one of the lounge rooms, Wario told his friends that he had something important to tell them. He made sure all of them had eye contact, then he spoke with crescendo, "I'm not...", then Wario stood there motionless. A few seconds later, a Big Boo suddenly appeared feet before the Mario Bros. who instantaneously finished his own sentence, "WARIO!"

Everyone except Toad screamed and cringed in sheer terror. Luigi involuntarily put his hand on his chest and passed out. The Big Boo floated beside his Wario disguise, laughing in satisfaction. Mario gained back his senses and confronted the giant Boo; "What have a' you done with the _real_ Wario?"

"Oh, red one, we sided with Bowser in exchange for a near-limitless supply of Gloom Vibe, so we can make everyone miserable, including that grotesque, uncooperative swine you call a friend. He even said that if we were extra good at being bad, we could even keep some of you for ourselves as a bonus—as long as we bring **you** to him personally."

 _ **"Where is Wario?"**_

"Oh, he's not here, this one's made of plastic." He pressed a button and the decoy exploded just like a LEGO Minifigure. Everyone tried to dodge the parts, but one of the arms knocked out Toad. Shortly after that, a bunch of Boos came in from all sides, ready for a fight. Mario jumped over a lot of them to reach the door to the other side, then, he summoned a giant fireball which plowed through a section of the Boos like bowling pins. Donkey Kong picked up Luigi and ran through the gap while it was open. Yoshi, on the other hand, had to improvise. Luckily, he knew exactly what to do. He threw Toad over the Boos into Mario's arms, then he flutter-jumped over them himself. They were all free, for now.

Big Boo screamed in frustration. "No. No! No! No! NO!" He left a holographic message to Bowser. "As long as that accursed Mario is up and running, they're unbeatable! But I'll still going to find a way to get him to you, and I won't stop 'till I do!"

They ran to no end until they came upon a room with at least ten doors. Mario pointed out one they could take, and the group took a gamble with their breather, trying to get Luigi and Toad back into consciousness; both of the latter proved impossible, to an extent, as Luigi was now at least awake enough to think and stand on his own two feet, but he was still uneasy about the whole thing. After a while, Donkey Kong heard something. The three others (Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi) began hearing it too; it sounded like someone crying. They had to do something. Mario cracked the door open, making sure the coast was clear; there were some Boos heading straight for that door.

"Brace yourselves, guys," he warned his friends. Yoshi came closer to him. Five Boos appeared to attack, but Mario and Yoshi were able to dodge all of them.

Donkey Kong noticed some barrels opened one: "Koopa Shells?" He scooped some up and prompted Luigi to throw them at the Boos. They vanished upon impact.

The heroes then proceeded to follow the sound of the crying. They found another large room, two Boos, and the real Wario—covered in Gloom Vibe—bawling his eyes out trapped in a glass box. "Let him go!" Mario yelled.

The Boos looked at each other and then at him. "We don't think so." Mario threw one of the shells at one of the Boos, to deter the other from reaching anymore of the Vibe. The Boo screamed and floated away. Mario messed with the controls, releasing Wario from captivity.

"Guys, you came for me," he exclaimed still crying, but what he said next shocked them: "I'm so sorry I put you guys through this!" He suddenly leaned over to Luigi and cried in his arms, muttering his apologies.

Was Wario forgiving him? Even if his friend was cursed, he couldn't help but feel that Wario was actually sorry for him; that he should've stayed, that he was so close to brining the same fate to Luigi himself. As Luigi wholly took in all of these emotions, he smiled and began to comfort Wario, patting him and telling him that everything will be alright. After giving Wario a moment to rub his eyes, they

walked into the next room. There was nothing but doors as far as the eye could see. "Which one do we choose?" Mario asked.

"Well, I guess we could each try and open one, " Wario suggested.

At this time, Toad had finally woken up. "Hey, uh, did we find Wario?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he's not exactly the Wario you know," Mario said.

Toad sighed. Each of them picked a door they thought would do it.

"On the count of three—One...Two...Three," Mario said immediately opening his pick, only to be flattened by it.

Wario looked out and he could see the night sky. "GUYS! I FOUND THE EXIT!" He ran towards it, but he crashed into the painting.

Donkey Kong saw glowing red eyes and pushed it shut with all of his body weight. "It's not that one guys!"

Toad saw a staircase and eventually ended up in a balcony above the room his friends were in. "Nope."

Luigi stood shivering with his hand over the knob, but never even touching it, not after seeing the traps in store for the others. Donkey Kong went over to Yoshi to see what he had found: just another hallway. Suddenly, they heard the laughter of hundreds of Boos. They had no other option and all followed Yoshi and Donkey Kong into the hallway. It led to a library, a dead end. Mario and the others could still hear the laughter and began to scramble for secret exits. At some point during the search, Luigi tripped over a suspicious object buried beneath the carpet and almost fell within, using his arms to keep him up. Mario and Wario pulled him up. They then threw the carpet aside so they could see the hole themselves. Everyone jumped in. The last to go, Donkey Kong laid out the carpet once more, as if they were never there.

It was a rough landing, but nearly anything was worth being away from the Boos. They walked down a tunnel filled with shallow water until they found a small door with a window in it. Mario peered through; it was the outside. When Wario tried to get through, Mario signaled that he stop, for he had an idea. He then turned to his saddened ally. "Wario, what can I do for you to make you happy?"

Toad suggested that DK finally "let" Wario win an arm-wrestling match between the two.

Wario himself spoke with tears streaming down his face, "Well, they took all of my money; there was this one Big Boo and his gang in particular."

Mario stood, pondering. "You mean the same one who tricked us?"

"I guess."

Then, with a confident tone in his voice, Mario said, "Don't worry. We're a' gonna get it back!"

They reentered the mansion. The Boos were scattered sparingly; the six sneaked around to where they thought a detailed map of the mansion would be. A Boo saw them and threatened to attack. Toad held a lantern over him demanding that they let them go on by. On their way to the vault, they encountered a strange block. Donkey Kong punched it. Upon this action, the room turned, and they fell through the hallway they came in. Not being able to return things back to normal, they walked down what was the wall and found several more of the mysterious blocks, this time in different colors and arrow prints. Several Boos began to notice the abrupt changes and chased after them, but they were able to figure out all of the changes and got away.

They entered a single room with a single door-the Vault. Wario gasped in horror—the safe required a combination. "Now, what are we gonna do?"

They then heard a voice; "3-0-1"

"Should we trust it?" Donkey Kong asked.

"3-0-1..."

Toad went up to the safe door and entered 3-0-1. Wario pulled on the door and it worked.

There were giant Coins and gems, not just blue, but in all colors everywhere. They dove in. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi emerged from the pile first. When Wario finally came out, he was laughing and back to normal. They all smiled; Mario's theory had worked; there _was_ a way to cure them before they defeated Bowser and got the Vibe Scepter back. After some more frolicking in the money pool, they began to stuff as many of the most valuable materials as they could into their pockets; however, their merriment was soon interrupted when a golden Boo appeared.

"You guys…are here to steal from our wealth, aren't you?"

The heroes blankly looked at each other in an awkward moment of silence before Mario finally said flatly that they weren't.

The Boo scowled. "LIARS! I KNOW YOU ARE AND I WILL DESTROY YOU AND SET YOU IN THE GRAVE WHERE YOU BELONG!"

Mario, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Toad began to laugh at him. Wario even nudged Luigi and suggested that he join in; "He's no different than any other Boo—Laugh and then we'll get out of here." However, it was quite obvious that Luigi's snickering was fake.

The Golden Boo wouldn't have any more of this treatment. He opened a secret compartment in the wall and activated the security system. The safe made a loud locking sound, startling Mario and crew into silence. This sound was then proceeded by a blinking red siren. Donkey Kong then nervously leaned toward Wario saying, "Wario if you know anything from your treasure-hunts, use them now!"

"Um..."

Suddenly the Big Boo appeared. "Ah, I can see that you've got your friend back; if you love each other that much, then allow me to ensure that the four of you can spend all of eternity together IN THE DUNGEON!"

"Four?" DK remarked, "I think you mean six. Six of us who will escape with a whole lot of charity money!"

"No, I'm talking about how Bowser told us, 'Do what you want with the others, but I want Red Cap alive and hand-delivered to me."

"Okay, but that's still five," Toad stated.

Big Boo realized his mistake and noticed Luigi's feet wobbling from a pile of coins—the rest of him hidden in the fortune.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to take into account Lord of the Fainting. Hah ha. You're still going down! BOOLDERDASH!"

He charged toward them, but they all dodged.

"I'll get you if it's the last thing I do!"

Wario scoffed. "Not on my watch! No one makes a' Wario quaver nor takes his money, and lives to tell the tale; especially not both—curse or otherwise!"

"I'd bet even under normal circumstances, that gorilla is less stubborn than you!"

This exchange gave enough time for Toad to land a quick punch on the Big Boo's back before he felt the blow and tried to swat him away. Angered, Big Boo slammed into Mario, but he had used the Rage Vibe to form a barrier of fire around him—giving Big Boo a face-full of flame and the light emanating from it.

Knowing he had been defeated, he cried out in desperation; "WHY WON'T YOU COME GET YOUR JUST DESSERTS? Then again, if one princess could best milord, then…why did I ever expect anything different? Someday Mario, someone will get you." He then dropped his crown and exploded.

Toad applauded. "Woohoo! We beat him! Now let's get out of here; we have to keep going!"

They exited the vault greeted by dozens of Boos ready to take them down, but Mario held up the crown and they all floated frantically away from him.

"Now. Now. I have a' one favor to ask of you, and we'll leave you alone."

"What? How dare you show us mercy?"

"All we need are the treasure and some camping supplies if you have any, and don't try to hide poison or anything, or I guess I'll have no choice but blast through you all. I mean, it's just a simple request that will save us all from having to fight."

"Alright, we surrender; you win!"

"Thank you."

Under strict supervision from Mario and the others, the Boos provided the heroes with everything they could ever ask for that they could carry.

Mario told them "Bye-bye!"

The Boos slammed the door.

"Well, okay, there's a small grove just ahead; we'll set up camp and then head for," Mario pulled out the map, "Wavy Beach!"

"Wow. Camping at the beach; the only thing that could make that better is if Peach were here to join in with us," Toad exclaimed.

"Yeah."

The heroes found a clearing and after setting up their stuff, Mario, DK, Yoshi, Wario, and Toad sat down to gaze upon the stars and roast some marshmallows.

"So, uh, Wario? Something's been bothering me. If you don't mind telling us, how did you get captured in the first place?" Mario asked.

"Well word must've got out that we were trying to stop Bowser and he set up those ghosts to surprise me; back before I separated from the rest of you guys, so he ordered enough to give me and your brother a decent challenge, but only I sprung the trap—those lucky numbers-winning fools."

"Hm," Mario said as he stuffed one of the marshmallows into his mouth. He then asked DK to hold his stick while he went inside the tent to check on Luigi, distraught to see him sulking between their sleeping bags. "Hey. Look, I know you didn't exactly…make it through the whole way, but you have to understand that _none_ of us could've seen that coming. I'll admit, I was actually scared out of my wits for a little bit."

"I fainted."

"So, you faint one time in several years. Have some grace for yourself, Bro; life throws a curveball at you every once in a while. It's a bit like a' you set up the party, and you say, 'Okay, I have enough pizza to serve me and seven of my closest friends a pretty good-sized a' slice.' But actually, you find out at the last minute, each of your friends tell their friends, and all of their friends show up. And all of a sudden, you find yourself having to split the pizza with fifty-four people you barely even know, and _still_ salvage the best parts for yourself and the guests you invited the party to begin with. Mama Mia!"

"He. He. That's you alright; guess that could a' happen to anyone."

"Now come on; cheer up! I made you a s'more."

Luigi got up and accepted the s'more—roasted to perfection!

He happily joined the others in exchanging tales of adventure by the fire and taking turns reading from the tour guide Mario had bought back in Toad Town. Before long though, Gloom and Mario put the fire out, everyone got into the tent, curled up in their sleeping bags, and went to sleep.


End file.
